It's Been A Long Time Comin'
by JimberlyShipper
Summary: Finn and Rachel were supposed to get married. How can they move on from that? Does not end sad!


_**Disclaimer: This is a Finchel reaction fic. Major spoilers for 3x14. This is what I think should happen...they are my OTP, I will never give up on them, but I don't think that they should necessarily get married. They can go to NYC and be together without being married. The characters of glee aren't mine. Neither is anything else that is known to be someone else's. **_

It's Been A Long Time Comin'

By Julia

The bouquet Rachel was holding fell to the floor. They had not gotten to get married, they'd had to postpone it, Quinn Fabray's accident had taken precedence. Finn Hudson stood there for a minute, not sure what to do or say. They had lost their time slot. Finn could not believe this. He was thinking that he should not have seen Rachel before the ceremony. He was telling himself that he was crazy, that it didn't matter, that that was not the reason that their wedding had been cancelled. He could not move. Everyone else was at the hospital. Finn, Rachel, the Misters Berry, and Burt and Carole were all still at the courthouse. Finn and Rachel were standing there, trying to figure out how everything had unraveled.

They could just stand there. Finn wanted to go to her, but she was standing there, crying. She looked miserable. Finn went over to her anyway, and touched her arm. "Rachel, I am sure we can reschedule... and I just know Quinn will be OK."

The little diva looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes. She was thinking maybe they weren't supposed to get married. "Finn, maybe the universe is trying to tell us something." She didn't believe this. Finn and herself were supposed to be getting married. She was afraid they weren't supposed to get married. Finn was all she had ever wanted besides being a star. "What if we're not supposed to get married?"

Her dads and Burt and Carole were all trying not to listen, they were of course, very worried about Quinn but they were invested in what was going to happen here. Leroy was watching Rachel, not sure what he was going to say, but he wanted to find out what Rachel was thinking. "Are you alright, Rachel?" He finally asked, they were hanging back trying to let Finn and Rachel talk.

Rachel shook her head, she didn't know how she would answer it. "Finn, tell me how you feel." She insisted, she wanted to know what he thought. Maybe if Finn thought they still had a chance, then she could start to have hope again.

The boy was quiet for a moment, he was not sure what to do or say. He didn't like that Rachel was talking about not getting married. "Rachel, what do you mean about the universe? We're still going to get married. We just can't do it right now. Come on, we can go to see how Quinn is and we can get another appointment."

He went to grab her hand, but she pulled away. "Finn, this is not over! We can't just go and see how Quinn is and make a new appointment. This was our shot. You said it was now or never." She said, looking at him. "That means we've lost our shot."

"Rachel, I still want to marry you. We can figure this out if you just relax." Finn said, tears had filled his own eyes, and he wanted away from this conversation, he didn't like where it was going. "You are _going_ to be my wife, Rachel."

Pulling even further away from him, Rachel started pacing. She didn't want to break up with him, but she didn't see how Quinn's accident on the day she was supposed to marry Finn was a good thing. "Finn, this can't be a coincidence. Quinn was on her way here. She was going to be the maid of honor. She was in a car accident. Quinn could have _died_. We have to face the fact that maybe we aren't supposed to get married." Tears dripped off her chin.

The parents all listened quietly. They didn't have to speak up. Rachel seemed to be coming to the conclusion they wanted the kids to reach. Carole was the only one who knew that Finn was still intending to go through with it. Carole had told them how determined Finn could be. She knew that as long as Finn still wanted to marry Rachel, the only thing that would stop him was the girl's refusal.

"How can you _say _that? I have never loved anyone but you!" He cried, watching her as she paced. "You are the only thing that I ever did right. I can't play football, my father was a drughead, and I am not smart enough to get into college. I told you, I told you when I proposed to you. I told you that as long as we had each other, we would be OK. I don't want to lose you, Rachel."

"I don't want to lose you, either, Finn, but I think we should wait. We can go to New York without being married." Rachel could not believe she was saying it, but she meant it. "I am not breaking up with you. I just think we should wait."

It felt like a punch to the gut. Finn didn't know what to do or say. He felt like the world was ending. He didn't want to say it but he felt he had to. "Rachel, if you're saying that we are going to wait, then you and I are... over." His eyes filled with fresh tears as he said it.

That made Rachel look at him, her face was full of hurt. "You... you don't mean that." She said, stepping closer to him. "Please, Finn, you don't mean that." She sounded as if she was trying to convince both of them.

Finn ran a hand through his hair, he hated the look on Rachel's face. He just, he couldn't be with her if they weren't committed. "When you said yes, you told me that I was the love of your life." He reminded her. "You're the love of my life too."

Wiping her face, Rachel nodded. "Yes. You are. That's why I know even if we don't get married it will be OK. We will still be able to be together, Finn, _please_." She didn't want to break up with him, and she wanted him to see that if they didn't get married it would be okay.

The parents were all supportive of this, especially the misters Berry. They wanted Rachel to go back to her career path. They liked Finn but they wanted more for her. "Hey, why don't you table this for now and get changed so we can go see Quinn." Carole suggested. She was sure that if they left it to Hiram and Leroy they'd end up breaking up. Carole knew Finn could not handle that. He had already been through enough this year.

Rachel was grateful for the suggestion. She didn't know how she would be able to get over Finn if they broke up again. "Yeah, let's get changed and go see Quinn, OK?" She asked, not sure how that would be received.

To her great surprise, Finn agreed, and they went to get into the clothes they'd brought to change into for the honeymoon. The ride over to the hospital in Finn's truck was quiet. They didn't speak much. He didn't know what to say mostly. In his mind, this was over already. If Rachel didn't want to marry him anymore he didn't want to be with her anymore.

The next couple of weeks were tense for everyone. Quinn was going to be in a wheelchair until she got better, and it was hard on everyone else. Finn and Rachel had not spoken very much, and they were still technically together. Rachel was scared of the fact that they hadn't spoken much. She didn't know if that was going to mean a breakup or not.

At school, one afternoon before glee, Kurt and Rachel were talking by her locker. Rachel was trying to keep the conversation light. She didn't want to talk about Finn. Not with Kurt. They'd already fought enough about the wedding, although Kurt had been there, and Rachel was glad that he'd been there for her. "Kurt, do you know what you will do for your NYADA application to get in?" They were both finalists, and Rachel was curious.

"Come on, Rachel. You know that is not what you want to talk about." Kurt told her, he knew she was trying to avoid the subject of Finn, and Kurt didn't want to. "I know that you're upset that you and Finn fought, but you can get past this. You have to talk to him."

"Kurt, he doesn't want to talk to me, OK?" Rachel said, as she sighed and closed her locker door. Blaine joined them. Rachel didn't want to talk anymore, especially with Blaine there. "I'm going to go on to glee, OK, Kurt?" She asked, tucking her hair behind her ear and then heading off down the hall.

When she got to the choir room, Finn was already there. It looked like he'd had the get there early mentality too. Rachel sat down in one of the chairs, just two away from him. She didn't know what to say. She didn't like how strained things had become. "Finn, I... we need to talk."

Glancing toward her, Finn knew they had to talk. "I know, Rachel." He said, he wanted to move closer to her but he felt awkward. "I don't think right now is the best time." He said, running his hand through his hair.

Rounding on him, Rachel asked, "So when? When are we going to discuss this?" She asked, knowing that she could not handle not knowing what they were anymore. "I have to know about what you feel, I have to know if you are still my boyfriend, Finn, because not knowing is killing me."

That was when Will came in, and they were no longer alone. Rachel turned back around in her seat, to face the white board. The rest of glee club started to file in. Quinn was the only one not there. She wasn't back just yet. Rachel was barely listening as Will was going on about Nationals. She normally would have been paying attention, but she couldn't keep her mind off Finn. She hated what had happened. She didn't even really have anyone to talk about it with, her dads were mostly happy that she hadn't gotten married.

After glee, Rachel screwed up what courage she had before it was gone, and went to Finn. The rest of glee club was filing out. "Finn, please. We have to talk. Let's go to the Lima Bean."

Looking down at her as he stood up, Finn knew it was going to have to be now or never. He said, "Alright. Let's go to the Lima Bean."

A little while later, they were sitting at the Lima Bean, awkwardly staring at their coffee cups. Rachel was the one to initate the talk. "Finn, I'm sorry if I upset you. I just, I think Quinn's accident maube showed us that we weren't ready to get married." She hated that she had upset him, but she still believed it was the right thing. They didn't have to break up. They could work this out.

He was quiet, not sure what to say. Looking at her, he took her hand. Watching their fingers entwined, he knew that he had to say something. Finn said, "I know you didn't mean to hurt me. But... I still want to marry you."

"I do, too, Finn, but maybe right now is not the right time. I know that you still want to do it right now. I wish that I could still see it as a good idea. Especially since I loved you almost as soon as I saw you. But we can still be together without being married. We can even stay engaged. It can be a long engagement. But I just don't know why we have to do it right now."

When she mentioned still being engaged, Finn felt a little better. He could be alright with that. Finn let out a breath. "I guess I can be alright with that. Especially if we stay engaged." Finn held onto her hand, tighter. "Rachel, I am sorry if I said anything to hurt you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I am sorry if I hurt you. If you still want to be with me, I want to be with you."

Relieved, Rachel nodded. "I do still want to be with you. We'll get married one day." She told him, and they leaned forward to kiss. It felt much better, Rachel knew it would be all okay now.

_**Author's note: Hope you liked! I know it's not a popular opinion, and I won't be mad if they do still get married, but this way is so much better. Thanks for reading, review if you want!**_


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